


it's the insanity eating up the man in me

by donutworry



Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 09:17:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15215999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutworry/pseuds/donutworry
Summary: Wanna hear a joke? A hero and a villain fall in love. That's it. That's the joke.





	it's the insanity eating up the man in me

**Author's Note:**

> AN1: Title from the song “Mercy” by JC Chasez (I love Justin, but JC had the best vocals in *NSYNC, fucking fight me)
> 
> AN2: This is an extension of the short Sky High AU I posted on Tumblr. Bonkai are inspired by Warren Peace’s parents (“His mom’s a hero and his dad’s a supervillain.” - Layla Williams). I didn’t have any plans to extend it, but I like comics and the recent (ruined) BatCat wedding gave me ideas. So, the first part is the Tumblr excerpt cleaned up a bit bc I typed it on my phone and as a wise The Boondocks writer once had Sam Jack say, “ain’t nothing a n**** type with his thumbs worth reading”...or something like that. The rest is the retelling of events leading up to *omg spoiler* Bonnie’s pregnancy and Kai’s evolution as a villain in tandem.
> 
> AN3: Kai pov. Comic-typical violence. Language. TW’s for content that can be disturbing for some readers. Some tragedy and angst, but duh, it’s me.

* * *

 

There’s not a lot of free time at Gemini Tower. Being that every prisoner there was a parahuman, there wasn’t much else to do at the max security pen except exercise or read when you weren’t kept busy by being worked to death. Or you know, pretend to exercise or read while you were really conspiring to escape.

Which is exactly what Kai was doing with Laurence Hales (aka Absolute Zero, the ice king of all the cryokinetic villains) when his number is called.

“Prisoner seventy-two thirteen! To the call room - you have a visitor,” the burly guard barks.

Kai pauses, checking the sleek metal cuff on his right wrist. There was a matching one on his left arm. All the prisoners wore cuffs like this, that doubled as power suppressors as well as high tech transportation handcuffs. They were also unique to each inmate’s biology, engraved with their identifying number. And sure enough, there it was:  **_ 7213 _ ** , printed right there on his wrist. Kai steps back from his co-conspirator to address the guard.

“I have a visitor?” he doesn’t bother hiding his bemusement. Who on earth would want to see him? Anyone who might be interested were most likely already within these walls. Or Draconia’s. Kai almost pities the villains that end up at the asylum.

“That’s what I said,” the guard snaps. He holds up the remote that magnetizes Kai’s cuffs together, pressing the button and glaring at Kai.

“Let’s go, Red Hand,” he sneers. Kai shares a look with Law, nodding. They’ll finish the conversation later. Mentally adding Fugly Prison Maid to his blacklist, he walks towards the guard and allows himself to be guided to the call room.

He’s never been here before. Never had to be. His cuffs are demagnetized from each other and he’s allowed to sit freely at a table. The rest of the room is empty and guards stand at every entrance and checkpoint Kai can see, far enough for privacy, but close enough to shock the hell out of him with their tasers if he steps out of line. Kai counts eight of them and is running scenarios of how he might turn this in his favor when  _ she _ steps into the room.

‘She’ being Miss Magnificent, one of the founding members of The Society of Heroes. 'She’ being Miss Magnificent, the third and most powerful woman (telekinesis, pyrokinesis, super-strength, and rapid regeneration) to pick up the mantle, the one with the most influence. 'She’ being Miss Magnificent, his arch-nemesis and the reason he’s imprisoned in the first place. 'She’ being Miss Magnificent, who is supposed to be in a rocket somewhere in the cosmos, mediating peace talks with hostile Martians and decidedly not here on Earth, at Gemini Tower, sitting across from him in an empty call room (that he now realizes is empty because of her), looking very much like she’s hoarding a small melon under her dress.

He stares at her protruding belly, then her face, raking in her pretty features. She looks tired, but happy and a little wary, not unlike any other young, expecting woman visiting a high security prison for super-powered villains.

Inordinately, he’s angry. Kai’s hands curl into fists and he sees her eyes dart to them immediately, her combat instincts seemingly as sharp as ever. A guard shifts and Kai schools his face, relaxing back into his seat. Looking once more at her belly, Kai tries to smother the feeling of betrayal that fills him when he greets her.

“Hi, Bonnie,” he says amicably. Bitingly. “I’d ask what’s new, but…” He trails off, nodding at her stomach. He tilts his chair back, balancing it on its back legs, watching her take him in. She snorts and finally takes the seat across from him.

“Hi, Kai,” she banters back. “I’d ask what’s new, if the answer wasn’t clearly 'not much’.” Her face goes serious and she looks him over. Kai hates the tenderness he feels when he sees her face soften in concern. “Are you…” she hesitates. “Are you eating enough? They’re not overworking you are they? I’ve been working with other Society members and policymakers to incite prison reforms to move towards rehabilitation and building up applicable work skills, so that…”

Fuck. Her nervous babble has him charmed and he stops trying to barricade his heart off from her, no matter how angry he is at the prospect of some other man’s child growing under her dress. Miss Magnificent may be his arch-nemesis, but there’s a reason Red Hand, known for his ruthlessness and ability to drain abilities - and life - with a simple touch, quickly stopped turning his power on her with intentions crueler than knocking her out.

She cared, more than most other heroes. She was willing to crawl in the muck and shit to save everybody, even the scum like Red Hand. It was idealistic and naïve, but even if Kai’s behavior was never going to reform, his heart might. And besides that, well. Malachai Parker always has a soft spot for Bonnie Bennett.

And wasn’t that some shit?

She cuts herself off when Kai’s chair slams back to the floor, watching him as he reaches for her hand. She doesn’t pull away, doesn’t even tense. Kai wonders if it’s her faith in the cuffs or her faith in him that keeps her relaxed. Both ignore the huffing of the security guards. They don’t like him touching other people.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in space? I saw you get on a rocket with Fractal and Honeycomb on the news last week.”

She beams at him, and he doesn’t get why until he realizes he’s inadvertently given away his own concern. His eye twitches, but whatever. He’s holding her damn hand.

Still smiling, she answers, “That was one of Psiren’s illusions. She’s the one who boarded. I’m on leave.”

Kai turns her hand over between his, doing the same with her words in his mind. He wishes he had his powers, so he could siphon off some of her strength. Maybe some of her regeneration for when she inevitably guts him. All those times before…he had thought…

But no, his thoughts were just that. The shit in his head. No way would someone like Bonnie be destined for someone like him. Just no way.

“On leave?” he muses in a neutral tone. “Can I take a gander on why?”

Bonnie smiles at him. “It’s hard to fight crime growing a human,” she teases, something in her easing. Apparently, she’d been expecting a more unpleasant response. “A lot of the other Society members are really upset with me. Others, like Psiren, not so much. It’s rough having a tank off-duty, but since Psiren is usually out of the public eye, she came up with the plan for Miss Mag to mediate alien affairs so Bonnie Bennett can get ready for maternity leave from the lab.”

“Yeah? And the dad? What’s he doing?” Kai inquires, mentally bracing himself. She’s not for him, no matter what they might have shared in the past. Clearly, it didn’t mean as much to her if she’s moved on so completely.

“He’s in prison. Not much help at all, to be honest.”

Her answer pulls him out of his wallowing abruptly.

“What?”

“Yeah, why did you think so many other heroes are pissed at me? It’s because the father is a villain, not because I can’t fight.” She watches his bewildered face in amusement. “It’s bad press for the Society of Heroes if it gets out that one of their founding members is having a baby with her arch-nemesis.”

Kai thinks his brain has short-circuited. He drops her hand. Blinks. Looks at her small bump. Does some mental math.

Shit. Holy fucking shit.

He wonders briefly why it never even occurred to him that he might be the father.

But then again - Bonnie and Kai. Miss Magnificent and Red Hand. Not exactly what comes to mind when one imagines first-time expecting parents.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he questions quietly. Bonnie makes a face at him.

“I aaaam?”

He scowls. “You know what I mean.”

The heroine sighs. “I had to be sure.”

That hits Kai like a slap.

“Oh,” he sighs. He tries to pull his hands down to his lap, but Bonnie grabs his arm in an unrelenting grip.

“Kai, you have to understand - you’re not the only criminal I’ve fought and you’re certainly not one of the ones who wanted to kill me.”

“Yes, I did,” he grunts, keeping his eyes trained on the hand holding his forearm.

“Oh-kay, not a criminal who still wants me dead.”

Kai hums, not in agreement or disagreement. Bonnie huffs, exasperated.

“Malachai Taylor Parker,” she growls lowly and Kai can’t be blamed for his body’s interested twitch. “You can’t push this on me. I’m twenty-seven. I fight crime. This is my first child and it’s with someone I personally made an effort to get imprisoned.” Kai scowls at the reminder. “Can you blame me for being a little scared?” she ends quietly.

“You?” Kai scoffs. “Scared? Yeah, right.”

“It’s true. But…mostly I’m scared because I want this.” She shifts. “Some of the other members are considering starting a school for kids like ours. Ones who might be…uh, exceptionally gifted. Somewhere isolated where they might be safe. I think it might be a good idea for this little guy to be around others like him.”

“Why are you telling me this, Bon? I’ve got a life sentence.”

“I know! But like I said, we’ve been working to reform the prison system and honestly, every person you killed was considered a case of self-defense and dur-”

“You don’t have to excuse me, Bonster. I did what I did. It’s why you were so gung-ho about getting me incarcerated.”

“Because I want you rehabilitated! It’s not-”

“Shh,” he soothes. He wasn’t trying to rile her up, he was just stating the truth. Her hand on his arm is a little tight. “No biggie, Bon. I don’t blame you. I’m not trying to fight.”

She nods, temper cooling.

“I love you,” she says quietly. Kai can’t ignore the way those words tighten his chest. “That’s what took me so long. I had to wrestle with the truth for a while there.”

Kai nods. He can’t say it back, of course not. But he can bring her hand to his lips and press a kiss to her palm. Eyes closing, he recalls these hands touching him in other ways, the good and the bad of their relationship and all the times they’ve simultaneously built each other up while ripping each other to shreds.

“What’s his name?” he questions, opening his eyes to catch her staring at him longingly.

Bonnie looks away, embarrassed at being caught. “I dunno yet,” she answers.

“How about Warren?” he throws out. Bonnie thinks about it.

“Warren. It’s nice. I like it - Warren.”

He snorts and places her hand back on the table, but doesn’t let go. The rest of her visit is pleasant enough, some warm reassurance in his chest as he starts to plan out a future for himself and the woman he loves.

Because honestly? Bonnie might be an idealist with a justice boner, but Kai only deals in reality.

If he wants this, he’s going to have to make it work. Eventually (he hopes) Bonnie will come around to his way of thinking. Besides, an early beach retirement with Bonnie? She’ll come around or he’ll keep her hostage until she does.

Resolute, he lets her kiss him goodbye when she leaves. He holds her tight, because fuck the guards. She was his woman, pregnant with his kid.

When he’s back in the rec room, he seeks out Law to resume their conversation.

Can’t have that beach retirement with his family if he’s doing life in prison, now can he?

-o0o-

** Twenty months before. **

Let’s pretend Kai’s siphoned Rewind’s power to briefly go back in time. If he could do that, maybe he would explain this  _ thing _ that exists between him and one of the most beloved heroine’s of past century - his arch nemesis slash the love of his chaotic life. Bonnie Bennett wasn’t always Bonnie Bennett to him and she definitely wasn’t always someone he cared about.

Nope. At first, Bonnie was only Miss Magnificent, with her gleaming, armored white and yellow catsuit and her stupid shimmering gold cape.

The first time they meet, Red Hand had just finished pulling off a heist. He hadn’t expected a big-leagues hero like her to show up to stop him, but within moments of dejewling and demonetizing all of the overpaid bidders at the annual high society charity auction, he sees two golden yellow  _ M _ ’s floating where the getaway car should have been. The getaway car which is nowhere in sight as Kai looks around.

It was stolen anyway, but still. He can't  _ get away _ without a getaway car.

“I’d stop if I were you,” her voice comes out, booming and warped. If not for the petite, feminine shape before him, he might have thought it the disembodied voice of some ancient thunder god. “The police are on their way, and I will engage you. Surrender now.”

Shaking the shock that  _ Miss Magnificent _ has showed up to stop him, Kai shoots her a nasty grin.

“Nah,” he says. “What did you do with my car, though?” Hands glowing the bright, startling red that gave him his name, he summons upon the only power he’s ever fully stolen and aims a lightning bolt at the portion of her chest that the tough, white catsuit doesn’t cover.

She’s not expecting it. It’s the only reason he can think of that the bolt even lands, but when it does, he doesn’t waste a second blocking her path by making rubble of the road. He’s hoping, of course, that he didn’t kill her - although, what a reputation boost that would be - because then he’s going to have the entirety of  _ TSoH  _ coming down on his head. But Kai’s not some dumb petty thief; he grew up in organized crime. He knows the first thing he should do is get the hell out of dodge before more authorities show up.

But he lingers a moment. He’s not sure why, but he does and it’s probably that single moment of hesitation that sets the course of his life.

A wall of fire blazes up around him and Kai curses his hesitation, falling into a combative stance. Miss Magnificent is a powerhouse - he should have known  _ being struck by lightning _ was something the heroine would shake off like so much dirt on her shoulder. But still, he’s not going to go out without a fight.

“Red Hand,” her booming voice calls. It sends a thrill down Kai’s spine, his ego stroked that one of the big seven heroes know him by his name. Her figure rises into the air again, arms crossed over her smooth, unmarred chest, one leg slightly hooked behind the other, her cape flaring in the wind behind her. Her fucking all-white costume isn’t even sullied, let alone charred by the lightning and her gleaming perfection annoys him. He can’t see her face through her visored golden helmet, but the pursed line of her purple lips seems highly unimpressed.

“I’m placing you under arrest,” she informs him. “This is your final warning: surrender peacefully.”

Kai aims fully-meant middle finger at her floating form. Something about all the shining white and gold, untainted by his attempt at killing her, irritates him. The heroine scoffs and he’s not expecting the sass out of such an angelic-looking public figure.

“I warned you,” she states simply and suddenly she’s zipping down at him. Kai barely has a chance to flip out of the way before her punch lands in the concrete where his body once was. The cement cracks under her gauntleted fist. Kai leans back slightly, then hisses at the heat that reminds him of the blazing circle she trapped him in.

“Fuck,” he mutters to himself, then reiterates it louder when a white boot almost clocks his jaw. Pay attention, he chastises himself. Miss Mag had super-strength: one hit from her will knock him out and or hospitalize him. 

“You wouldn’t feel that way if you just came peacefully,” Miss Magnificent sniffed. She twists and throws an elbow jab at his shoulder. Maneuvering out of the way, Kai sees his opportunity and hooks his hand into the crook of her arm, gripping her bicep.  With a forceful turn, he slams her into the concrete, her helmeted head smacking the cement. And he siphons.

The fire around them dies instantaneously and Miss Magnificent grunts in pain. He knows it’s more from the siphoning than from the fact that he tossed her against asphalt, but internally, he still takes it as a victory that he still got one over on Miss freaking Magnificent.

That’s when the rush of her power hits him like wrecking ball. He could easily get addicted to the feeling. The first degree burn he received when he backed too close to her fire heals. The intense draining fatigue he often feels when he overuses his power dissipates - he feels amazing, like his body is as light as feather, but as solid as steel. All his minor aches and pains disappear and he feels made anew, reborn. He hadn’t realized just how tired he felt until this moment, when his fatigue was lifted.

Is this what being Miss Magnificent felt like? No wonder she was so confident to rush into danger all the time.

Kai felt invincible.

It’s a very fleeting feeling. The heroine beneath him shifts and suddenly his head is gripped between her thighs. Mild panic fills Kai - if she squeezes… His arm comes up to slip between her knee and his ear, using the strength he stole from her to keep her from crushing his neck or putting him in a sleeper hold. She appears undeterred and a second later Kai realizes why.

She cuffed him.

It’s a serious handcuff too, one of the thick ones used by Gemini and Draconia - the prison and asylum for superpowered criminal individuals - to transport their inmates around. The handcuff molds tight up around his wrist, adjusting to his biorhythm immediately. Then Miss Magnificent does some weird twisting maneuver that brings him closer to her for brief second, so close he can almost see the outline of her eyes through the dark visor and smell her perfume, something with hints of sweet bergamot and spicy clove. It makes Kai thing of fragrant teas and it momentarily distracts him. Then she’s free of his grasp and he’s cuffed to the metal piping of the auction house.

Miss Magnificent smiles widely at him. Her cape drapes over one shoulder, obscuring half of her upper body from view.

“You’re under arrest.” The microphone is cut off, no longer booming loud, but her voice is still warbled, like her real voice was layered with two others. She flicks the cape back. Sirens wail in the background. She tilts her head at him, seemingly unbothered by the noise. “Too bad. You’ve got a lot of potential to be a great hero.”

“I’m not a hero,” he snaps. “And I have no intention to be.”

She nods, not appearing suprised or upset. Just calmly accepting. It gives a Kai a weird sense of chastisement and annoyance.

“I know. Still a shame,” she replies. “You’d be kinda awesome.”

He’s not sure what to think of that. Two police cars pull up behind her and the officers immediately train guns on him. Two of them step forward, around Miss Magnificent to finish apprehending him while she watches him. They pat her on the back, thanking her and she nods. Kai has a feeling her eyes don’t really leave him, even as she replies to the officers.

“Don’t go so far you can’t come back, Red Hand,” she says, before levitating into the air and taking off. Kai frowns after her, thinking, then glances down at the handcuff on his wrists. It’s interfering with his power, but because it hasn’t completely suppressed it yet, he’s still got a little juice left from siphoning her. He wonders.

As the cops shove him in the back of one of the patrol cars, he focuses on the cuff and thinks  _ break.  _ There’s a strain, but Kai can feel it.  _ Break! _ He concentrates again and feels the handcuffs shudder slightly before powering off. Kai bites back a grin. There’s still enough of Miss Mag in him to make this fun.

“- get this freak back to Gem Tower, then finish patrol with no more trouble. I’ve got a shit-ton of reports to get through and Sarge will kill me if I don’t get ‘em in by tomorrow.”

“If you’d stop waiting until the last moment, Ray, you wouldn - .”

“Excuse me,” Kai interrupts Dumb One and Dumb Two. “I just thought you’d like to be aware that my handcuffs are no longer working.”

The officers take too long to comprehend his meaning. By the time they turn to face him, Kai’s already broken through the glass separating them and knocked Dumb One unconscious. Dumb Two tries to tase him, but he’s driving and his split concentration causes them to crash into a street light.

Horns honk all around them as other cars slam on breaks and swerve to avoid them. Another car slams into the back of the police cruiser and jolting Kai. No matter. Gritting his teeth, Kai uses his stolen lightning to blow the roof off of the cruiser. After he checks the pulses of the two cops - still alive - he hops out of the patrol sedan made convertible and fucking trucks it.

He needs to find cover fast. His power is really draining him now, having used it multiple times in the last ten minutes. He feels a nosebleed coming on. Ducking into an alley, he powers down and slips between two dumpsters and changes in swift, practiced moves. One pocket of the utility belt gets turned inside out, converted into a simple gym bag, gloves, cargo pants, and weapons tossed inside. Taking his jacket off, he flips it inside out and unzips the collar, converting it into a thick grey hoodie. He puts his prescription glasses on - his vision is better than perfect with his power activated, but it seriously strains the eye muscles and he literally sees the difference when he powers down. Then he pulls an old, service-less smartphone with headphones out of the pocket, pops the buds in his ears, then walks out of the alley calmly, looking down at the screen.

He joins up with a group of gaping pedestrians and peers in the same direction as them. Smoke is billowing into the sky from where he blasted the roof off the car.

“What’s going on?” he asks aloud, pulling out one earbud.

“Some supervillain just took out a squad car!” a woman replies.

“It was a S.W.A.T. car!” someone corrects.

“Nah, dude, it was it regular car, but he blew it up,” someone else corrects.

“I heard he went toe-to-toe with Miss Magnificent!”

“No wonder he was in a squad car.”

“Who was it? Absolute Zero?  _ Majesty _ ?!”

“No! Some new guy!”

More voices chime in and Kai reinserts his headphone. After taking a picture of smoke spilling into the sky, Kai turns and walks away.

 

-o0o-

 

He’s unaware of who it is he’s talking to the next time he sees her.

Kai’s day job is as a personal trainer and self-defense instructor at an expensive gym chain (He  _ has  _ to make time keep in top form, otherwise his power would knock him out on his ass each time he used it. That’s something he had to learn the hard way, so working in fitness seemed the best route). He travels between several locations in his area, but he’s based in the one downtown, near the shitty apartment he used to share with his younger sister.

It’s when he’s working there that he meets her unsuited for the first time.

Obviously though, Kai doesn’t know it’s her. Without the helmet and the voice scrambler, the only thing Bonnie Bennett has in common with Miss Magnificent is being black and having short hair. She’s scrubbed free of makeup and her skin is clear and smooth. His manager introduces them because ‘she’s looking for endurance training and Kai’s our best.’ Most of Kai’s clientele are women looking for the gym’s ‘best’ - most just wanted a chance to flirt. It always amuses Kai to think how they’d feel the exact opposite about him touching them if they knew what his hands were capable of.

The first thing he notices is her eyes. They’re vibrant and green and stand out noticeably against her brown skin. The second thing he notices is her smile, which is bright and friendly and oddly familiar.

She's crazy pretty. Like...ridiculously hot.

“Hi,” Bonnie greets after his manager leaves. “I just wanted a consult, you don’t actually have to do anything.”

Kai quirks a brow at her.

“I mean,” she chuckles. “I just wanted to get your opinion and maybe a price?”

He nods. “You’re doing endurance training? For a race of some kind?”

“Uh, yeah,” she agrees. It’s the first thing she says that has his spidey sense tingling - she’s lying. But a lot of his clients lie to him, for whatever reason, so it doesn’t really bother him. “It’s for a marathon I’m running.”

“You wanna win or you just wanna finish?”

“Um,” she hesitates. “I wanna win.” Kai nods in acknowledgment.

“When’s the race? How long is it and what’s the area like?”

“Oh, uh. It’s the Red City marathon!” she says with a lot more enthusiasm than someone who’s claiming to run one of the toughest marathons in the country in  _ less than four months _ should have. She’s definitely a little liar.

He stares at her, then gives her a quick once over. Kai has to fight to keep the assessment professional, but Bonnie has the sort of body he typically prefers in his partners.

She was actually exactly his type. Heat he hasn’t felt in a long time hits him and Kai almost flinches away from her physically.

His eyes shoot back to hers. “Have you been on a training regiment? You’re not out of shape, but I would like some history to be sure, that way I know at what intensity level to start you at.”

“I run around my neighborhood,” she offers. “But I figured I should do something to step up the intensity before the actual race since -”

“You’ll be racing through hill country?”

“Yeah.”

Kai thinks and nods. “How often can you make it out here?”

“Uhhh...sporadically? I work a lot.” It’s the first thing she’s said that Kai believes, so he nods.

“Alright then. Three times a week for one hour sessions? Mix of weight training and high intensity cardio - how does that sound?.”

Bonnie nods, then shakes her head. “Um, how much?”

“First month is free if you sign up for the trial run at the front desk,” Kai offers. “After that, my personal rate is kinda high.”

Bonnie grimaces. “How high?” Kai grins.

“See if you like training with me first and I’ll tell you,” he says. Bonnie narrows her eyes at him.

“Are you a drug dealer?” she wonders. “Because that sounds like something a drug dealer would say.” 

Kai just laughs. “Train with me first and find out.”

Bonnie sighs. “Okay,” she nods. Kai hands her his business card and starts to lead her to the front desk to sign up.

“Since your schedule’s sporadic, just give me a few hours warning on the days you wanna come in. I’ll help you sign up for the free trial.”

Bonnie smiles at him, bright and beatific. Something in Kai’s stomach twists and he internally chastises himself. God, she’s so much his type it physically hurts. There’s no chance.

“Thank you,” she tells him. Kai shrugs.

“It’s no problem at all,” he replies, trying to smother the attraction dead.  _ There's no chance _ , he tells himself.  _ None. _

At the time, he hadn't known she was Miss Magnificent, there to scope out the alter ego of the up and coming new villain. He's not sure why she didn't just alert the authorities right away when she found him - maybe she needed definitive proof that Malachai Taylor Parker was Red Hand. Maybe she was just too curious for her own good. Maybe she thought she could save him, because at Bonnie Sheila Bennett was the heart of Miss Magnificent, and Bonnie wanted to save everyone. He never asked what her reasons for the continuous engagement was.

But in the end, Kai’s not sure if he'd change the course of events at all, and that's the really scary part.

 

-o0o-

 

Every crook has a reason for their crimes. For some, it’s a legitimately noble cause, like ending human trafficking or saving the planet, just done in a completely insane way. For others, it's for the thrill of doing whatever the fuck they want. For a few, it's about power. For many, it's just about survival.

Kai is one of the many. He desperately, desperately needs money. And he has the power and means to take it more readily than others. So he does. It's simple logic.

The day he meets Bonnie, his sister’s condition worsens, and his desire for more money increases inversely.

When he gets to the hospital, one of the nurses who works in the children's oncology wing greets him. The pitying expression on her face freaks him out. His heart begins to pound wildly in his chest.

“What happened?” he asks before she can speak. “What's wrong with Olivia?”

The nurse offers him an apologetic smile.

“Did she die?” Kai asks. His voice is raspy. He feels so faint that he wonders if maybe he’s accidentally overusing his power and it's about to K.O. his ass.

“No!” the nurse rushes to assure him. “She’s alive, but her condition-”

“I'm not dead now, but I probably will be by this time next year,” Liv’s voice interjects. Kai whirls around to face his sister.

The teenager, whose once long, blonde curls used to frame her face in a wild mane, has dark circles under eyes that have sunken into her bald head. Her nose is red like she's just finished crying and she's gripping her IV pole tightly. Her hospital pajamas look baggier than they have in a long time.

“Miss Parker!” the nurse with him begins to chastise, but Liv ignores her, eyes trained on Kai.

“There's more tumors. A lot more. The cancer has spread and there's one in my spine that’s probably going to paralyze me,” Liv informs him. Kai strides forward and manages to pull her into a hug just as her face crumples - his tough little sis wouldn't want any witnesses to her breakdown. Face hidden in his shoulder, she continues.

“It's kinda metal when you think about it,” she exhales. “Badass way to die right? Getting your spine crushed.”

“C’mon,” Kai murmurs. “Let's go to the chapel.”

When they're alone, Liv’s real breakdown occurs and Kai rubs her back soothingly through all the angry sobbing.

This is all Joshua’s fucking fault.

They come from a poor, shitty family, full of thieves and other ne'er-do-wells. Back when they still lived with their dad, he used to punish them with his powers when they didn’t perform as well as they want. Joshua Parker was the first Parker to ever have superpowers and he was determined to have a little army of superpowered brats to serve him. It’s rare that mutations for being a parahuman occurs randomly, but when it does, it becomes a heritable gene. Joshua had seven kids and in the end, when it appeared Kai was the ‘only one of any value,’ he started selling Kai’s siblings.

Literally. Joshua Parker trafficked his own fucking kids because he saw them all as commodities, either to be his little crime soldiers (like he made Kai into) or products to sell for things like sex and experimentation. Kai’s twin sister, Josette, was sold for over two million dollars when Kai was twelve - her purchaser had been a perverted sadist with a thing for pretty brunettes, and Jo being a young virgin was the icing on top of the entire fucked up cake.

She committed suicide two months after being sold.

Olivia had been sold to some shady pharmaceutical company for human trial testing - of the illegal sort. The experiment’s destroyed her health and left her sickly. After Kai turned seventeen, he killed Joshua by siphoning all of his power, then kidnapped Olivia back (the only one of his siblings he could find) and became her legal guardian - it’s not like the company could try to take her back after all. They lived together for a few years, under the radar in the wake of Joshua Parker’s crumbling crime empire and the rapid scrambling of crooks trying to fill the void of power his death and Kai’s disappearance caused.

For a while, Olivia was sickly, but okay. Shit was hard, but manageable. Then the cancer came and she’s been in and out of hospitals since.

This particular ‘in’ was going on its fourth month and it was starting to strain Kai to keep up with the payments. He’d wanted very little to do with Joshua and had only taken enough money to get himself and his sister started until he could find work. After that, Kai literally burned what was left, getting rid of Joshua’s last hold on them for good.

Or so they thought.

“I saw you on TV today,” Liv says when she settles down. “They’re still looking for you. Red Hand, huh? I like it, makes you sound dangerous.”

“Can’t take all the credit. I got it from a TV show.” he confesses. Liv looks at him with hairless brows lifted in curiosity.

“ _ Peaky Blinders. _ Joshua used to call me his little right hand man and the theme song to the show has the lyrics ‘red right hand’ and I just started thinking about how we got away from him. And it seemed like a big fuck you to his grave since he died while my hands were glowing all red and…,” his tirade trails off at his sister’s half disgusted, half disbelieving expression.

“Fix your face,” he grumbles. Liv shakes her head.

“Suddenly, I don’t like it anymore,” she says. “You’re all famous now, what are you gonna do about that?”

Kai grimaces. “I didn’t want that,” he says. “I was trying to keep a low profile, but -”

“Miss Magnificent showed up and you somehow managed to escape.”

“Yeah.”

“What’s  _ she  _ like?” and not even Olivia, who thrived on being deadpan, difficult, and disagreeable, could hide the admiration in her voice. “Is her costume just as cool close up?”

“Cooler,” Kai begrudgingly admits. “I siphoned her a little.”

“Seriously?!”

“Yeah. And she beat my ass  _ while _ I was siphoning. Put me in a headlock with her legs, then handcuffed me with suppressor before I could get away,” he says, smiling a little at Liv’s childlike awe. “And her power? Feels amazing. I never felt so invincible in my entire life.”

His smile falters a little and he throws his arm over her bony shoulder. His palms run over her peach fuzz scalp - she was  _ just _ starting to grow her hair back.

“If I could take her power and give it to you I would. You deserve to feel that healthy.”

Olivia sighs.

“You’re such an idealist,” she tells him. Kai silently disagrees, but shrugs his ascent anyway. “Kai? Can you promise me something?”

Her voice is somber and Kai’s heart clenches at the tone. His hold on her tightens slightly. Olivia is the only person who’s ever known about his power and not been afraid to have him near. 

“What up?”

“If it gets to be too much for me, will you promise to just end it?” she asks bluntly. Kai’s jaw flexes as he grinds his teeth. “I know it’s not fair to ask you, but I’m just so tired of white walls and shitty medicine.”

“Will you try?” he chokes out. He knows himself - he won’t be able to say no if ( _ when _ ) she asks, really asks. Kai can’t deny her anything. His eyes burn behind his glasses and he blinks rapidly. “Fight just a little longer at least?”

Liv nods.

“Of course I’ll try,” she says. “You’d be lost without me, poor sap.”

-o0o-

The money he made the night he robbed the auction all gets anonymously donated to his sister’s hospital. He can’t pay the lump sum for her treatments himself - his job would never explain where it all came from - and Olivia isn’t the only sad, sick kid there. It’s not enough, he knows, but it’s something. Maybe enough to buy him time to find a parahuman solution, since plain human medicine wasn’t doing shit.

Kai feels like he’s running against a clock with fucking bear trap snapped to one leg and an anvil chained to the other. He’s running out of options. Theft can only pay so much. With his powers, there are more lucrative - if not darker and more dangerous - options. It’s only a matter of time before Olivia asks him to siphon her to death and Kai is desperately afraid of what that will do to him; finding her saved him from plunging into the abyss once. He’s terrified of being utterly alone in the world again.

Because who else would stand by him after all he’s been through? After all he’s done?

No one.

 

-o0o-

 

** Eighteen months before. **

The first time Red Hand and Absolute Zero meet, it’s because Kai picks a fight with Laurence Hales at Majesty’s nightclub  _ Imperial _ .

Kai needs funding and resources if he’s going to find a way to save Liv, and the easiest way to get pulled into a life a crime is to have the big dogs looking for you, not the other way around. And Majesty, publically known as Marcel Gerard, was the biggest dog in Red City. The man ran a gang of parahuman enforcers that was effectively the reason the U.N. summit agreed to form The Society of Heroes - Interpol’s branch of parahuman agents sent to police parahuman criminals. Epik, Miss Magnificent, Psiren, Freakshow, and The Baron had been lobbying for a superpowered law-enforcement branch for years, but it wasn’t until Majesty was able to assassinate Lorenzo St. John, a popular candidate for Red City mayor, without anyone noticing, that the United Nations pushed the branch through.

Interpol was in the process of creating a ranking and classification system for parahumans and Kai has no doubt that Gerard was going to be one of their highest ranked ‘mind control’ parahumans on their list. The guy was basically a ghost, and a notorious one at that.

He was also exactly the person Kai needed to fill up his bank account and find a para way to save Liv.

So he arrives at  _ Imperial _ looking for an opportunity to draw Majesty’s attention. Neither Gerard nor Hales, his enforcing lieutenant, bother to hide their identities, so everyone knows who they are, what they look like, and what they do. Because of this, it doesn’t take Kai long to find Hales, who’s hanging out on the second floor of  _ Imperial,  _ in a VIP room, sealed off from the rest of the club by a thick glass wall.

Kai can see two pretty women, one sitting on Hales’ lap and the other leaning on his shoulder seductively. Their presence causes him a moment’s delay. Chastising himself, he shakes it off. They won’t get hurt, not directly by him anyway. And they made their choice to be around such a dangerous man - Kai doubts he’s the only one to ever take a gamble at killing Laurence Hales.

Resigned, Kai takes a breath and activates his power.

Then he pulls his hoodie down, platinum hair reflecting the neon lights and red hands balled into fists right before he shoots a large blast of lightning at the glass wall.

The shock causes a quite literally thunderous clapback and the glass shatters onto shrieking club goers. Kai stands firm as the chaotic crowd parts around him, watching the hole he blew into the wall and waiting.

He doesn’t wait long. His next breath is visible in the suddenly chilly air and a thick fog rolls out of the VIP room right before a tall, muscular figure is leaping out of it. Some hapless clubber gets knocked out of the way. Hales is so cold that air around him causes the person to freeze completely and when they fall to the ground they shatter into pile of bloody, frozen...meat chunks. Kai grimaces, completely grossed out, then turns his attention back to Absolute Zero.

“Who the fuck did that?” the parahuman gangster shouts. “Who’s the fucking idiot who blew up my club?”

Kai raises his hand in the air and waves it.

“Yoohoo!” he calls. “Right here.”

“Dumbass!” Absolute Zero calls, hurling a spear of ice at him. Kai dodges the projectile, a small grin forming on his face. The ice shatters somewhere behind him. By now the club has emptied of partiers, leaving Kai and Hales to their battle.

“Me?” Kai points to himself. “My name is Red Hand, not Dumbass, dumbass.”

Laurence growls, and Kai finds it kind of funny that someone with ice powers is such a hothead.

“Chill out,” he says. “I just want to hurt you, that can’t be a first.”

Hales bares his teeth in the parody of a grin. By now, his powers have taken such a grip on him that he looks almost completely different - skin white and glistening as if embedded with glittering shards, lips a bloodless grey, veins blue-violet and very stark against the paleness. His eyes are a glowing silver and his black hair is literally frosted with tiny snowflakes. It’s eerie as hell, making Hales look like some kind of nightmare apparition from a frozen wasteland.

The other paraman takes a step forward.

“You’re not funny,” Hales says. “And I’m going to really enjoy turning your ugly ass into a statue and kicking the shit out of all the little pieces of you.”

Kai makes a face.

“That’s dark,” he mutters. “Like really depraved, you might wanna see someone about that.”

Instead of answering, Absolute Zero sends an icy burst at him and Kai lets Joshua’s lightning dance along his body and charge the air around him. Deciding to take advantage of Hales’ surprise at him dispelling the cold, Kai rushes forward to strike. Hales recovers quickly, taking Kai’s punch with hardly a flinch, only stepping back. The blond para flinches - it was like he was punching cold, hard steel. The bones in his hand bend painfully, and it mildly alarms Kai that his punch barely moved Hale. Kai isn’t exactly small or weak.

“Annoying,” Hales huffs. “I’m going to kill you now.”

He reaches out, and both men are swiftly caught up in flurry of kicks and punches - flying elbows in Kai’s case, because he wasn’t punching that brick wall again. Kai feints an opening and Hales falls for it, his hand shooting forward to wrap around Kai’s neck and squeeze.

“Fuck off now,” Absolute Zero tells him, sounding bored. The chill from his touch begins to encase Kai quickly.

Kai smiles at him widely. “Wanna see a trick?” he counters and grips the hand around his neck. HIs own glows red and he feels grim satisfaction watching the confidence fall away from Absolute Zero’s face, no doubt feeling the painful draining effect of Kai’s power. Laurence sways, face contorting and Kai pulls his hand away from his neck, still holding onto it. The other parahuman trembles, grunting in pain.

“LIke I said, Laurence,” Kai snips. “Chill out.”

Forming a sharp icicle in his hand, he plunges the sharp tip into the meat of Hales’ shoulder. The ice king shouts in pain.

“Fuck! You cunt! What the hell did you do?”

“Oh!” Kai releases the ice and holds up a pointer finger. “You thought my powers were lightning, right?”

He smiles and leans in. 

“Not me. I’m hungrier than that.”

He punches Laurence in the face. The ice is leaving the other man, making his body human again. The crunch of his breaking nose is a very satisfying sound. His black hair is damp from the melting frost. Kai punches him again, making his head fall back.

“Tell Majesty something for me?” he asks. He hits Laurence one more time, then releases him. “Tell him Red Hand would just looooove to meet him.”

He shoves Hales to the floor, then kicks him in the head, knocking him unconscious. The siphoner looks around the abandoned club. The walls are slick from condensation, ice and glass litter the floor, and the air smells like char and ozone. Kai smiles to himself and heads toward the door. He waves at a camera on the way out and makes sure to smile brightly, directly into the lens.

Gerard will know his face.

And then, he will come for him.

 

-o0o-

 

His hand is broken from hitting Hales when the guy was all iced out. In fact, a lot of him hurts - Hales hits like a fucking truck and he’s got a headache from his power trying to knock him out for using it. But his hand is bothering him the most and Kai slows his run to address the source of his discomfort. He’s setting it while he jogs, power still activated as he traverses through enemy territory, but with his focus on his hand, he’s not paying attention like he should. It must be the reason he misses her, because her voice takes him by surprise.

“It’s not often I get called in to break up a fight between two criminal paras,” Miss Magnificent’s distorted voice calls. The microphone is turned down, but it still projects enough to catch Kai’s attention from across the street. He stops to face her - she can move shit with her mind after all - deciding that facing the music was the best route, no matter how he dreaded having to fight with her.

The paragon of human goodness stands on the sidewalk with her hip out, weight on one leg, and arms crossed under her breasts. The stance draws Kai’s attention to the curves of her body. Her golden cape glimmers gently under the street lamps and moves softly in the breeze. She looks like an angel, thoroughly unimpressed by the idiot humans of earth.

Or probably, just the idiot human before her. Kai suddenly feels very chagrined under that visored stare.

“Fight’s over,” Kai calls back. “I won.”

“You sure? You look terrible.”

Kai frowns at her, ego inexplicably bruised. “You should see the other guy,” he huffs.

Miss Mag’s teeth flash white between purple lips.

“Epik went to get Hales,” she informs him. “He was missing. It’s not every day someone knocks him out on his ass like that though. Did you surprise him with your little trick? He’ll remember; Hales is bad about grudges.”

Kai tilts his head, confused. He’s not sure how she would know what state he left Absolute Zero in if his body was gone by the time Epik arrived to retrieve him. But more than, it sounds as if...

“Are you worried about me?”

“Not at all,” her scrambled voice says. She straightens up and Kai tenses. “Merely puzzled - why on earth would you attack Majesty’s club like that, then make sure the security cams got your face?”

Ah, Kai thinks, they must have looked at the security footage. That was fast - they must have arrived shortly after he left. Miss Mag probably went after him immediately in order to cut him off like she did.

“I’ve got my reasons,” Kai replies coolly. “None of which concern you.”

Miss Magnificent’s mouth purses as she continues to stalk across the street.

“If you’re in trouble, I can help you. Certainly, I can do more for you than Marcel Gerard can.”

Kai grins, feeling a little giddy. “You flirting with me? Because maybe Gerard is more my type than you are.”

“Not with the way you stare at my breasts, he’s not.”

Ooh. Noticed that, did she? And she was quick with the comebacks. Kai shrugs, not feeling as sheepish as he should. They were great boobs and he was having more fun than he ought to from this little tête-à-tête.

“Got me,” he confesses. “Still don’t need your help.”

She stops a few feet away from him, just out of arm's reach. This near, when she’s not trying to kick his ass, he can see the steel mesh forming patterns in the lining of her super suit. The close-but-not-close distance makes him nervous, because she’s got the definite range advantage if this comes to blows. He can’t steal her powers if he can’t touch her and he can only use the lightning so many times, especially since his fight with the ice princess left him with a migraine. Instinctively, he takes a slight step back and twists his torso so that he’s a smaller target.

“What’s wrong, R.H.?” she taunts. “Afraid of a little ol’ me?”

“Little ol’ you who can pick up cars with one hand and set things on fire with her mind,” he quips back. She smiles and it’s nice. Her general form and visible face structure is simply nice to look at and hits Kai that she’s probably really hot out of that skin-tight, armored catsuit.

She’s really hot in it, too, but that’s not something he wants to examine at the moment.

“So you’re not  _ completely _ stupid. Just a little dumb, since you won’t let me help you.”

“You can’t help me,” he snaps, his temper flaring. Miss Magnificent steps a little closer, still just out of range, but her utter confidence at being near him, especially after having been on the other end of his power, is unnerving. She’s not afraid of him at all.

“How do you know?” she challenges. “You haven’t even tried me.”

Kai glares at her and takes a deep shuddering breath trying to calm himself.

His head really hurts and there’s a reddish glow that tells him his powers are activating in response to his emotions. He closes his eyes and steps away from her, body language clearly screaming to leave him alone. Rubbing his hand roughly, he sighs as pain flares through it and the sensation moves him away from his anger.

“Are you going to arrest me?” he murmurs, opening his eyes again. She’s hasn’t moved.

“I should,” she says. “You’d be safe and out of trouble at Gemini.”

Kai watches her closely. “Should?” he asks. Miss Magnificent smirks and holds out her hand.

“Truce,” she tells him. “Fix up your hand. And your face. Bruised and battered isn’t a good look on you.”

The siphoning parahuman stares at her extended hand, unsure of her motives and even more unsure of how he feels about this. Finally, he turns away.

“If you’re not going to arrest me, I’m going home,” he informs her. “Don’t follow me, or I’ll take all your juice and leave you for dead.”

Miss Magnificent’s hand drops back to her side and Kai feels a twinge of loss. Maybe he  _ is _ dumb.

“Scary,” Miss Mag murmurs, seemingly unfrightened.

Kai backs away warily, watching her as he slips into the shadows. She doesn’t move. When she’s out of sight, Kai runs around for about twenty minutes to throw off any tails, before slipping away towards his shitty, lonely apartment. He passes out as soon as he gets his gear off and falls face first into his bed.

He never notices the glittering golden cape disappearing away from his window when he makes it home safe.

 

-o0o-

 

The shrill ringing of his cellphone rouses him the next morning, making Kai jolt up in his bed. His hand screams in protest at the movement and Kai grunts in pain as he searches for the phone. It’s buried under his pile of pillows and sheets and he crows in success when he finds it.

“Hullo?” he mutters once it’s at his ear.

“Um...Kai?” a feminine voice on the other side asks. Kai holds the phone between his cheek and shoulder and rubs the sleep from his eyes with his good hand.

“Speaking,” he answers.

“Did I wake you up? I didn’t mean to, but you said to give you a few hours notice when I wanted to train, but I wasn’t sure what your schedule was and you work at the gym, so I thought you might be an early riser and I wanted to catch you before you got too busy -”

“Bonnie?” he guesses and the woman stops her nervous babbling.

“Yes,” she says. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t trying to intrude or anything.”

“Intrude on what?”

“Your sleep?”

Kai chuckles. “Nah, I overslept anyway. I should be thanking you.”

“Oh. Okay. You’re welcome then.”

“So today?” he asks, looking at his fucked up hand. He needs to reset it, then splint it, then wrap it. He kind of regrets not taking Miss Magnificent up on her offer to borrow her regeneration.

As weird as that was.

“Yeah,” Bonnie interrupts his thoughts. “I’m free today.”

“Okay,” Kai replies. “Meet you in an hour and a half? In front of the sauna statue?”

“The Miss Mag plaque?”

Kai scowls as he hums an affirmative into the phone. The gym he worked at had once been destroyed by a giant, rampaging lizard that Miss Magnificent, Epik, and Freakshow helped take down and capture. Miss Magnificent also helped with reconstruction efforts and Kai’s gym had been one of the rebuilt structures - when it was done, a life-sized statue of Miss Magnificent was carved into the wall in front of the sauna with the words “ _ Get hero strong _ ” engraved in an arch around her. Personally, Kai thought it was tacky, but whatever. There was TSoH merch and marketing everywhere, and Miss Mag was easily one of the public’s faves.

Everyone loves her, he thinks. It’s sickening.

“See you later, Kai.” Bonnie tells him. “And thank you.”

“For what?” he asks, worried he might have agreed to something he hadn’t been paying attention too.

“For meeting with me when you’re clearly tired. I appreciate it.”

“Remember that in a few hours,” he laughs.

 

-o0o-

 

“A sadist,” Bonnie wheezes almost three hours later. “Cruel. Pure evil.” Sweat drips down her nose onto the mat beneath her and she grimaces in disgust.

“A villain, I say,” she huffs. Kai grins, finding the irony in her words amusing. She had no idea.

“Say it again while you do another set of ten,” he commands and hands her a spherical, double-handled kettlebell. She looks like she’s about to cry when she accepts it.

“You  _ want _ to win, don’t you? If you can train with me, you can run endless miles through the Hills.”

Bonnie scowls at him as she does her set, short hair in disarray as she moves.

“You’re actually the worst,” she informs him primly, setting the kettlebell smoothly, the way he taught her, when her set was completed. “I take back my thank you’s.”

Kai smiles again, handing her a water bottle. She downs it quickly.

“Tell me that again after you win,” he tells her. “Break time.”

“Break?!” she sputters. “We’re not done?!”

Kai’s grin widens.

“Kidding!” he assures as they walk out of the area. “Dork. Our hour’s up, go hit the sauna or showers or the streets if you like sharing your funk with people.”

“That’s like...exactly what I love sharing with people,” she nods. It looks like she’s trying not laugh. “My sweaty gym B.O.”

“It’s better than AIDS.”

“Or cholera.”

“Ooh, yeah. Definitely better than death by watery stool.”

Bonnie finally laughs, shaking her head. “Oh god, this conversation is gross.” They stop just outside the sauna, in front of the Miss Magnificent statue.

“You’re gross,” Kai tells her. He nods to the sauna. “Go relax.”

Bonnie smiles up at him. “What about you? You’re sweaty too.”

From anyone else, it would sound like a come on. From Bonnie, it sounds like she’s taken a deep vested interest in his personal hygiene. Like she’s deeply concerned that he gets his ass washed and it’s...charming. And a little weird. Kai smiles back at her, quizzically.

Bonnie blinks, then whirls away, pointing at the Miss Mag effigy. Even when she’s made of rock, she looks thoroughly indifferent to his shit.

“This is kind of tacky, right?” Bonnie says. “‘ _ Get hero strong _ ,’ what the hell is that? And Miss Mag of all heroes - she has superstrength, it’s kind of a cheat. No is ever going to get that strong moving plates around.”

Kai stares down at her, surprised at her biting tone.

“You don’t like Miss Magnificent?” he wonders.

“No, I do,” Bonnie faces him again, jumping to reassure him. “I’m just saying - it’s...she’s not like...she didn’t earn it or anything. She’s a para.”

“So, you’re anti-para?”

“NO! No,” Bonnie shakes her head. Finally, she just sighs. “What I’m trying to say, I guess, is that it’s kind of an idolatry? Or a false hope? People come here and see this and think, ‘I’ll be like Miss Mag,’ but they never will be unless they have the same sort of mutation. It’s just...a lie?”

“It’s marketing,” Kai shrugs. “People love her. They want to be like her. This place capitalizes on that, especially since she helped rebuild after Komodo leveled it.”

“Well, they shouldn’t, you know? She’s just a person. She’s no better or worse than anyone else.”

“She’s better than a lot of people,” Kai counters. “I can guarantee you, the majority of people would not be heroes if they had her powers.”

“You don’t know that,” Bonnie says with conviction. “People can surprise you. Even the worst people have some goodness in them. And vice versa.”

Kai stares down at her hard. “We just can’t find a middle ground for our talks, huh? Maybe we should keep this,” he wiggles his finger between them, “relationship completely physical.”

The green-eyed beauty mock gapes at him.

“What kind of girl do you think I am?” she gasps. Kai chuckles.

“The kind who rants about statues when she should be relaxing her aching muscles.”

“Bossy,” Bonnie mutters. “Fine, I’ll go.”

Kai nods and begins to turn away.

“Hey, Kai,” the trainer pauses, looking back at her when she calls him. “What happened to your hand?”

“This?” Kai holds up his hand. “Hit something hard.”

“During a self-defense class?”

“Uh, yeah,” Kai goes along with the provided excuse. “Fucked it up during Krav Maga.”

“Why would you go and do that?” she teases. “Take care. Beat up isn’t exactly a cute look, Kai.”

She waves good-bye and disappears into the women’s side of the sauna.

Kai stands there, stricken.

_ Bruised and battered isn’t a good look on you. _

No, he thinks to himself. There’s no way. Absolutely no way. He looks at the Miss Mag statue.

Is there?

 

-o0o-

 

It’s a coincidence. It’s got to be. ‘Not a good look’ is common phrase.

But they do have a lot in common - both black, both of similar heights, and it’s very possible Miss Mag had short, black hair under her helmet because her hair wasn’t visible anyway. Kai recalls the way Miss Mag’s curves sloped perfectly under her catsuit and mentally compares it to Bonnie in her gym wear.

Similar body types as well.

After spending all day debating with himself, he ends up putting his Bonnie-Bennett-is-Miss-Magnificent idea firmly in the ‘maybe’ category. Then, he follows her home.

Kai’s a lot of bad things. A thief, a killer, a bad brother, a worse son, very likely a sociopath, but he’s never been a stalker before. Following Bonnie home dressed as Red Hand is probably another bad look, but he needs solid evidence. He’s built a life, he has Olivia to take care of, so he can’t just cut and run. And if Bonnie is Miss Mag, he doubts she’s in the dark about his identity and he doesn’t want to be caught unawares.

The first day, Bonnie goes home (to a very nice loft apartment) after their session and spends all day on her computer. He can hear her music through the open window and even though he likes the fact that she has excellent music tastes, it’s actually kind of boring just watching her work or dick around on the internet. She gets up once, to answer the door and accept her take-out and Kai sucks his teeth that she devoured two whole large pizzas by herself in one sitting.

That’s definitely not sticking to the diet he prescribed for their training, but whatever.

She disappears into the bathroom for about an hour, comes out with wet hair and wearing a robe, and then goes to bed around eight. Kai sticks around for another two hours, but when it’s clear she’s knocked out, he takes himself home and then searches for any hero sightings for the day.

Miss Mag had gone unseen for the day. Inconclusive data. But it’s a suspicious coincidence that doesn’t assuage Kai’s suspicions.

He pops back at her apartment the next morning to find her gone and he searches his phone for any hero sightings - still no Miss Mag. Taking the opportunity for what it is, Kai decides to break in and check the loft for any clues.

The first thing he notices is the smell. It’s familiar, like Earl Grey tea, but a little more fragrant. Kai’s definitely smelled it before, but he can’t remember from where. He assumes off of Bonnie since that made the most sense. Still, something is off about that.

The next thing he notices is how spartan and authoritarian her apartment is. Neutral nudes and monochrome furnishings, stock paintings, a sleek entertainment system that looked virtually untouched, a kitchen that was full of too clean stainless steel appliances to have seen any recent usage - it didn’t match Bonnie’s warm and slightly awkward personality at all. The place looked like a hotel.

The bedroom looks more lived in. The bedsheets are crumbled, there’s some clothes tossed haphazardly in the direction of the bin. He rifles quickly through her drawers (he skips the underwear drawer, but he saw a lot of lacy, sheer material and he’s man enough to admit his imagination went a little wild) and closet - she’s got a fuckton of clothes, but his search yielded no armored, white catsuits or golden helmets and capes.

Kai finds an old shoe box, slightly heavier than it ought to be and goes through that as well. It’s full of trinkets, pictures of Bonnie and people he assumes are family and friends. An older picture of Bonnie with two older women who look so much like her that there’s no denying the relation, a more recent photo booth streak of Bonnie goofing off with pretty, perky-looking blonde woman and an older, more serious looking brunette with a short, sleek haircut.  

What a ridiculously good-looking trio of friends. Like something out of a movie. Stupid.

There’s another picture of Bonnie kissing some tall, white guy on a beach (Kai perks up realizing that he might be her type) and then another of her wrapped in a decidedly not friendly around a pretty, long-haired brunette with glowing hazel eyes (Kai’s eyes widen when he realizes she has more than one type). He puts the box back where he found it and then he spies her smartphone.

Jackpot.

Her phone has no lock, but it doesn’t really need one. There’s no internet history, no message history, no call history, no activated e-mail, no non-default apps aside from a music player app and a password protected bank app - her phone is as spartan as the rest of the apartment. Her laptop is the most personalized thing in the apartment, with stickers like “Save the Whales!” and “Go Green!” and “I Stand With Them” and a bunch of wordless ones like the reduce-reuse-recycle symbol, the BLM fist, a pride flag, and paw that Kai guesses is for animal rights.

It was like a collage of ‘be fucking decent’ and it suited Bonnie.

It also suited what someone like Miss Magnificent stood for. So that’s another thing - similar moral system.

The laptop is password protected. Kai tries three times to unlock it, but he doesn’t know Bonnie well enough to guess it and he’s not some tech genius so after his third attempt he puts it back where he found it and sits on the bed.

Is this the sort of person Miss Magnificent was in private? Kai tries to match what he found out about Bonnie to Miss Mag’s public persona.

Inconclusive data, he thinks.

And there’s no hard evidence either. Nothing that can physically tie Bonnie to Miss Mag. So is he just being paranoid? Or is she just that good at covering her tracks?

He’s running on nothing but suspicion and a gut feeling, but he needs the certainty before he can make a decision. Both of his encounters with Miss Mag have had unexpected outcomes. Moreso the second than the first. Why didn’t she try to arrest him? She was a law-enforcer and he was a law-breaker after all, naturally they were supposed to be in opposition. So what kind of hero offers asylum to a villain? He was the hurting people, not the one being hurt.

Fucking baffling.

And Bonnie, well...perhaps it was just the cadence or the phrasing, but once he got the idea, there was a strong feeling of correctness. She had the same aura of warmth and caring, but there was a tender awkwardness to her that was at odds with Miss Magnificent’s cool confidence. And he’d watched Bonnie work out - it didn’t seem like she had superstrength.

Maybe she was like him. Maybe it something she had to turn ‘on’ to use. But that’s confirmation bias. He might only be thinking that because he wants to be right - for whatever reason. Evidence, he needs evidence.

Ugh. What a clusterfuck.

Kai’s eyes widen when the door unlocks and he leaps off the bed. Bonnie is talking and Kai frowns.

Does she have two phones?

“It is him, Stefan...No, I’m not. I just want to help, there’s nothing...shut up,” her voice changed from pleading to incredibly sharp in a split second. There’s a hard kick to it that takes Kai by surprise.

“Don’t talk about Nora,” she says with finality. Bonnie falls quiet, listening to the other side of the conversation Kai wishes he could hear. Her footsteps draw closer and, instead of doing the smart thing and diving for the window, Kai slithers his body under the bed.

Jesus fucking the Easter Bunny, it was a tight fit. Kai could feel the claustrophobia forming already.

He watches her feet as she walks in. The bed creaks over him as she sits where he just was, removing her running shoes. Then soft fabric drops to the floor and Bonnie stands, yoga pants and lacy panties following. Kai slams his eyes shut, attempting to give her some privacy.

“I’m going to go now, Stef. Just trust me, I know what I’m doing,” and again, she’s talking in that smooth, confident way that’s at odds with the Bonnie he’s met. “Yeah, I love you too. See you later.”

There’s a quiet clank and the bed creaks again as Bonnie rises. There’s the sound of a closing door in the direction of the ensuite bathroom and then the sound of a running shower. Kai waits a few moments, then skitters out from under the bed like a spooked pest.

Her damp, discarded clothes give him some clue as to where she went - for a run - and he’s careful to avoid her underwear as he looks towards the nightstand.

A smartwatch and a bluetooth earpiece. Of course. Kai’s tempted to look, but he’s out of time. Quietly making his way out of the window, he gets the fuck out dodge before Bonnie notices something amiss.

But still, that was a weird half of a conversation he overheard.

Inconclusive data.

 

-o0o-

 

** Seventeen and a half months before. **

Majesty looks across the floor at him, eyebrows cocked and amused grin on his face as he leans his forearms on the back of the folding chair he’s sitting reverse in. He’s a very handsome man, with smooth brown skin and a nice smile. Kai’s secure enough in his masculinity to appreciate it, even as he’s chained up and being tortured because of the man in front of him.

Another hard hit of pain catches him in the ribs, making him grunt.

He’s not sure where he is or how he got there. When he woke up, he was chained up to a disco ball over what looks like an empty skating rink with boarded up windows. The general atmosphere was weird and unpleasant, especially with three dangerous paras staring at him.

And then they started to torture him.

“That’s enough, Calamity,” Majesty calls. Kai’s pain fades as the tall, handsome man to Majesty’s left lowers his hand, and the glowing red in his eyes dissipates. “Rewind, fix him.”

Standing beside Calamity with her arm looped through his unraised one was a slight girl with long, dark hair and bright eyes. At Majesty’s command, she lifts her head from where it was resting against Calamity’s shoulder and stares at Kai, seeming in a trance. The whites of her eyes roll forward and then Kai feels better, as if the tortuous twisting of his innards had never happened.

“Neat,” he huffs. The girl’s eyes return to normal and she raises her brows at him, a small smile quirking her lips.

“Thanks,” Rewind says, resting her head back on Calamity’s shoulder. The tall para pulls out a pack of cigarettes and lights one up as the couple watch Kai curiously.

Majesty stands and all three paras turn to look at him as the dark-skinned man stalks forward. He looks at Kai curiously.

“Malachai T. Parker. One of two surviving children out eight from Joshua Parker, a parahuman organized crime boss also known as Thunderstruck and the only one of them to have inherited daddy’s para gene,” Gerard pauses. “Does your sister Olivia have powers?”

Kai shifts, mildly uncomfortable at the mention of his sister. But she’s the reason he’s here and he needs to divest attention away from her.

“No,” he answers. “Just me.”

“But she’s sick from the experimentation done on her?”

“Yes.”

“Your father had lightning powers and so do you - but Laurence said when you touched him, you stole his ice and used it against him. So what’s your real power? Both? Or the stealing?”

“The siphoning,” Kai sighs. He rolls his shoulders, which are aching from being strung over his head for so long. “When I take power or energy and use it for myself.”

“Is it permanent?”

“No.”

“Then how do you have lightning?”

Kai doesn’t answer right away, looking off to the side. He doesn’t exactly want to talk about his past, but all Gerard seems interested in learning about him is his past. That’s some shit.

“Calamity,” Majesty says when Kai doesn’t answer right away. Kai barely has time to protest before the other parahuman is pressing the lit end of his cigarette into his own forehead, right between his eyebrows.

But it’s not Calamity who writhes in pain. It’s Kai.

The strung up parahuman shouts as burning hot pain rips over his face.

“Fuck!” he shouts. Calamity grins and removes the doused cigarette from his face, tossing it to the ground. Aside from a smudge of soot, his skin looks smooth and uncharred. Kai doubts his own forehead looks similar.

“How did you make the lightning permanent?”

“I siphoned my dad,” Kai exhales. Jesus that hurt. 

“That’s it? Does that mean you still have Absolute Zero’s power?”

“No,” Kai explains. “I siphoned my dad to death. I kept his power because I killed him.”

The three other paras look at him in surprise and some mild alarm.

“You killed your own dad?” Calamity asks. It’s the first time he’s said anything and Kai notes he has a British accent.

“The world should thank me.  _ You  _ should thank me. You wouldn’t have been able to rise to power if my dad was still out running amok,” Kai snaps. “He was worse than you could ever dream of being.”

Majesty smiles. “Maybe. I wouldn’t traffic my own kid. But I don’t have any kids, so,” the parahuman shrugs. “You’ve got one fucked up family dynamic, kiddo.”

Kai snorts and leans his head back, closing.

“Does your power only work on other paras?”

Kai shakes his head.

“And I imagine you have no problem with killing people since you’re all into patricide.” That wasn’t a question, so Kai doesn’t respond.

“You must love your little sister though,” Majesty continues. “That’s one hefty hospital bill.”

Here we go, Kai thinks. Time for the games.

He tilts his head up to glare at the three.

“Don’t touch my sister,” he snarls. A sharp breaking pain flares through his ribs.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Gerard warns, his grin falling. “I tell you what to do, because if I wanted it, little Livvy could have worse things to worry about than dying of cancer.”

Kai glares angrily at the man. This is what he wanted, the manipulation and the ensuing chance to snag Marcel Gerard’s attention. Doesn’t mean he likes threats against his sister.

“To make up for the damages of destroying my property and my enforcer, you will be killing this man for me,” Marcel holds out his cell phone.

There’s a picture of a clean cut greying man in a navy suit on it. Kai recognizes him immediately as Julian Caesar, one of their state senators. He was a prominent voice in championing for forming The Society of Heroes and a fierce proponent to drug trafficking, the business Gerard built his empire off of.

“You want me to commit political assassination?”

“You want me to fund your sister’s care?” Gerard shoots back. He grins at the surprise on Kai’s face. “Did you forget, I have powers too? I know your desires. I can twist them to suit my own. But I don’t need to do that with you. You’ll kill who I say to kill when I say to kill until I decide to set you loose because I’ll find a way to help your sister. You don’t and well...you better hope the cancer gets her before I will. This,” he waves at Kai’s prone state. “Is  _ easy _ compared to what I’ll do to her.”

Fuck. He’d expected to have to hurt someone, but diving right into the murder of politician isn’t what he had in mind. Or wanted to do for that matter.

“Yeah,” Kai sighs. “Sounds like a plan.”

Majesty grins. “I’m glad we’ve reached an agreement.”

 

-o0o-

 

Rewind ‘rewinds’ him and the next thing Kai knows he’s back in his bed. If not for the unrecognizable Nokia flip phone beside him, Kai would have thought the whole thing was a dream. There’s a sticky note attached that says “ _ Answer when I ring! _ ” and Kai huffs, tucking the phone into his pants pocket.

He needs to get out and get some air.

Pulling on a t-shirt and a hoodie, Kai stretches and heads outside. He’s not paying much attention, but he notices his feet is taking him in the direction of Liv’s hospital. It’s not very long before he runs into Bonnie.

“Hey!” she greets with a bright smile. “Are you following me?”

If only she knew.

She’s dressed in normal clothes, a pretty floral dress with a denim jacket and dark blue, low-heeled boots. For once, she has on make-up, her eyes lined darkly and her lips painted red. Kai’s eyes fall on her mouth, looking for some familiarity, trying to imagine the shape of them in purple beneath a visored gold helmet. It’s easy.

But it could also just be his desire to be right.

“Excuse me, but I believe you’re the one following me,” he smiles back. 

“Are you okay?” she asks out of the blue. “No offense, but it’s like two in the afternoon and you look like you haven’t showered.”

Kai shrugs. “Probably because I haven’t showered.” Bonnie shakes her head at.

“You’re nasty,” she informs him. “But you could use a pick-me-up. Would you like a coffee? My treat.”

Kai studies her. It’s like the comment when she implied he should wash up with him. Like she genuinely cares and isn’t coming onto him even though it definitely seems like she should be.

This sounds like she just asked him on a date.

“I’m not...I think that might break a professional boundary,” he says lamely. There’s no real reason for him to turn her down, but he doesn’t trust her. Or himself.

Bonnie snorts.

“I’m not asking you to bear my children, Kai,” she banters. “You just look like you might need some caffeine.”

Kai looks in the direction of the hospital, then back at Bonnie.

“Alright,” he agrees. “I suppose I can let you buy me a hazelnut Americano.”

Bonnie smiles.

“C’mon then, I know a great place,” she reaches out and grips his arm gently, almost gingerly and begins to lead him away. And almost helplessly, Kai follows.

* * *

** AN4:  ** So...Bonkai’s hero/villain profiles:

Bonnie’s Miss Magnificent costume is reminiscent of Storm’s from the 90s X-Men cartoon. All white catsuit made of some really tough made up material, gauntlet gloves, and a yellow-gold cape that falls to the end of her back instead of those wing thingies that Storm had. The neckline looks like two yellow-gold capital M’s stacked on top of each other (the big one hems the neckline, the smaller one is inside of it is like Superman’s S). The neckline isn’t super plunging, but it does show cleavage and it’s the only bit of flesh she shows - even tho it’s unpractical for combat, she’s got powers that makes her a little less wary of displaying potential weaknesses. There’s a gold choker around her neck that acts as a voice scrambler and microphone to project her voice. Her helmet is gold and the back is modeled after a gladiator’s helmet - the mask part in front looks a golden headband with a dark visor that covers her eyes - like a mix between a SWAT mask and aviator shades (her hair stays covered, but it’s her sleek bob from s7). Overall a very lithe, but heroic and majestic costume, meant to bring to mind a warrior angel. Her signature is purple lipstick to differentiate her from the previous two Miss Magnificents. Since she’s a hero popular amongst the general public, this started a trend. Bc TVD treated Bonnie like Deus Ex Magical Negro, I turned that on its head and made her overpowered as hell - superstrength, rapid regeneration, pyro-  _ and _ telekinesis (her canon powers) and she uses them with very little limitation - now she can martyr herself all she wants with very little chance of actually martyring herself. She’s a high profile hero because a) overpowered but extremely kind soul b) legacy hero and c) founding member of The Society of Heroes - ppl love her. Bonnie is a multigenerational parahuman and a third generation hero. Since Miss Mag’s alter ego is unknown, when she unsuits and wears civilian clothes, no one knows who she is.

Kai’s Red Hand costume is basically that super badass The Red Hood redesign, but without the hood and mask. Keep in mind, Kai doesn’t have powers like super-strength, etc. like Bonnie does unless he steals it, so he’s a lot more armored up and weaponed than she is. His wears a skin tight undersuit (basically hero tights lol), very dark grey, and also made of incredibly tough material based on spider silk. Over that, he’s got on a black leather jacket, black, fingerless biker gloves, and red, black, and grey camo cargo pants. He tucks them into black Doc Martens bc he’s Kai. Red Hood-esque utility belt and he’s strapped, knife and taser on left thigh, gun on right - what bad guy doesn’t carry deadly weapons. His outfit is meant to imply that he’ll fuck you up bc he will. No mask or anything - when he’s in bad guy mode, his activated powers make his hair platinum blonde and he’s got the classic TVD vampire “game face” thing going on around his eyes (allusion to him being a Heretic in canon). People see him like that and obviously don’t want to touch him because he basically (canonically as well lol) has Rogue’s powers, but controlled. In order to use any powers he steals, he has to be powered up and his hands will glow red if he touches you (duh). If he kills you with his touch, he has your power permanently or (if the person he touches is not powered), their life force adds to his and boosts his long-term fitness. And Kai in this fic is  _ fit  _ bc using (not activating) his power to siphon or utilize another’s power does drain him, especially if it’s something long-term, so the stronger he is physically, the easier he can use his power/stolen powers. Thus, staying fit is a necessity for him _. _ The only power he has permanently stolen is the electricity/lighting power that he rarely uses - it used to be his dad’s. Kai is a multigenerational criminal, but only a second generation parahuman. Kai’s not very high-profile until after his first encounter with Miss Mag. Without his powers activated, he looks like plain ol’ Kai, plus he wears thick ass glasses, so not many people see Kai and see Red Hand and think - yo, that’s the same dude. Ya boy stays clean shaven tho. Jake Riley’s bod with baby Hades face.

** AN5: ** Other heroes, villains, and characters:

Epik - hero; alter ego - Stefan Salvatore; power - he’s basically a flying Captain America (really old, super soldier experiment, parahuman power of flying); founding member of TSoH

Psiren - hero; alter ego -Sybil; power - psychic/telepath, shapeshifting, illusions; founding member of TSoH

Freakshow - hero; alter ego - Vincent Griffith; power - maaaaagic, you’re welcome; founding member of TSoH

The Barron - hero; alter ego - Jeremy Gilbert; power - super senses, never misses (think Bullseye from Dare Devil or one of the assassins from Wanted), and can make explosives out of anything he ‘charges’ (think Gambit from X-men); founding member of TSoH

Honeycomb - hero; alter ego - Caroline Forbes; power - she controls insects and arthropods and other similar life forms

Fractal - hero; alter ego - Atticus Shane; power - can clone himself multiple times over, basically a one man army

Majesty - villain; alter ego - Marcel Gerard; power - mind control/‘seduction’ (makes you feel/think things you don’t want) - it’s like the ultimate charisma, comparable to the Queen in a bug colony

Absolute Zero - villain; alter ego - Laurence Hales (OC based on Laura Hale from Teen Wolf, fc is Tyler Hoechlin bc WHY TF NOT); power - ice/freezing/temperature dropping powers

Calamity - villain; alter ego - Kol Mikaelson; power - sensation diffusion/voodoo doll (if you’re in his range, he can make you physically/emotionally feel whatever he wants OR he can hurt himself and transfer it to others)

Rewind - villain; alter ego - Davina Claire; power - able to return things/people to a previous state, including slight temporal ‘rewinds’ (can only go back a limit of 5 minutes) 

Julian Caesar: Julian from s7 with Caesar as a last name bc the actor played a young Julius Caesar in Sparticus.

Bonnie’s pictures:

Grams and Abby, the previous two MMs. Photo booth with Caroline and Sybil. Couple photos with Jeremy and Nora (rough history with that second one.) 

** AN6: ** This fic was very fun and easy to write. It also interrupted my other stories lol. I’ve got the second half nearly finished, but this was over thirty pages already so. Also, it might not seem like it bc the story is from his POV, but Kai is high-key antisocial. Most people don’t normalize crime as a lifestyle the way he does. Most people don’t immediately jump to robbery and being an assassin when they’re in a financial bind. He says he wants to get away from crime, but then when he’s offered the chance to gtfo, he turns it down. He’s not a good guy by any means, but he’s not like...evil, which is what I wanted to show.


End file.
